Steve's photographs

UK1994-Part1-London

In 1994 Anne and I took 3 weeks of my sabbatical from Apple to go to the UK. We spent 2 weeks in London and the middle week traveling around southern England and Wales. I took nearly 20 rolls of film on this trip.
This is Part 1 of my Album from that trip, covering the time we spent around London Proper.

I can be reached at "szyslr" at "galleryszy.stevenanne.net". I also have a blog:
"Sighs and Musings".

One of the very good pieces of advice we received before going to London was to not stay in a hotel; but rather rent a flat (an apartment) for the duration of our stay. It provided several advantages: we had a place to store and re-heat leftovers; we could eat-in if we wanted, and it gave us an excuse to go shopping for food, which gave us a better perspective on how people live.

So, we rented a flat just off Sloane Square (a cool, upscale neighborhood) in the London Borough of Chelsea. It was on the 3rd floor of the darker building on the left. Sloane Square was about 100 meters to the left of this shot.

This is a view down Sloane Gardens. You can see the building our flat was in on the left. I was standing just about at the corner of the square on this shot, so that gives you a feel for how close we were.

Here's the entry to the Sloane Square Underground (subway) station. London has an absolutely wonderful public transportation system - both trains (known as "the Underground") and busses, both of which are quite safe. We very rarely has the need to take taxis, although as we grew to knew the city better we tended to walk more.

Sloan Gardens, the street we lived on, fed into the square just to the left of this shot.

By the way, the term "Subway" in London refers to an underground pedestrian walkway - usually a means to cross a busy street via a tunnel, not the system of trains used to get around the city. I'm sure a lot of Americans have gotten quite confused following rather common signs pointing to a "Subway".

This is the view up Kings Road, which feeds into another corner of Sloane Square. Kings Road was the hip, upscale shopping district (lots of little boutiques). For those from Boston, think Newbury Street.

One of the street lights on Tower Bridge. I include this just to show some of the pretty architectural details on the bridge. Note, the shade of blue you see on the bridge was Queen Victoria's favorite color.

This is a view from the top of Tower Bridge, looking North East. Actually, I realize now that I have this shot reversed. Near the right of the show you can see the dome of St. Paul's, and the green near the left edge is part of the Tower of London complex.

Here's a look at the Tower of London from across the Thames River. Actually, this still isn't the entire complex - there's more to both the left and right of this shot, I just couldn't get it all in.

When I had heard people talk about the "Tower of London" I always though of it as a single tall building. What I was amazed to discover was that "the tower" is actually a small city encircled by walls and a moat. It has several streets and a multitude of buildings. The complex started as a single tower (which evolved into the tall building with the flag in this shot); but by the time people talked about "being sent to the tower", it was already a city-within-a-city, and the prisoners were never kept in the old tower - which was usually used as am armory. Most prisoners were kept in the low white building you see just to left of center in this shot. The arch along the waterline to left of center was the "traitor's gate", which was where prisoners were taken into the complex; but more on that later.

Another shot of the tower complex from outside. The tall building you see with the four turrets (three of which are visible here) is what the original tower evolved into - it is now known as "The White Tower". It was added to over the years (which is why each of the four turrets is different).

This is one of the Yeoman Warder's of the tower - the official guards of the complex, who also serve as tour guides. Also known as "Beefeaters". These men are actually retired master sergeants from the army who have a perfect service record. It is a high honor to be accepted into the ranks of the Yeoman Warders, and the Warders and their families get to live in the Tower (they are these days the only permanent residents).

One of the ravens of the tower. Legend has it that if the ravens every leave the tower, the monarchy will fall. Just in case, the keeper of the ravens clips one of the wings so they are unable to fly long distances.

The building in the center is the clock tower at the Palace of Westminster. It is not, as some people think, " Big Ben ". "Big Ben" is actually the name of the bell that chimes the hours, not the clock or the clock tower, so you can "hear big Ben chime"; but very few people have actually seen Big Ben.

The front of Westminster Abbey, across from the Palace of Westminster. Note the left tower was undergoing renovations. That's one problem we've had with taking pictures of major landmarks - there is almost always some part which is buried in scaffolding.

This the Anglican Church were British coronations traditionally take place.

A member of the royal guard unit currently stationed at the palace. This is one of two places where you can see "the changing of the guard".These are real combat units who rotate through the role of guarding the queen and her home. While on duty, they live in Wellington Barracks, around the corner. In later years (but not in 1994), my in-laws owned a flat behind Wellington Barracks.

This is the view down "The Mall" - the grand boulevard that leads from Buckingham Palace down to Trafalgar Square and Whitehall. I'm standing on the steps of the Queen Victoria Memorial facing away from Buckingham Palace. This is the street down which all of the big state processions run. To the right of The Mall is St. James Park.

The corner of Downing Street (where the prime minister lives) and Whitehall (the street where all of the old government ministries had their headquarters). The gates keep the tourists and other undesirables away.

This is the headquarters building for Her Majesty's Horse Guards - the cavalry force assigned to protect the queen. There are always 2 guards on duty out front (in the two booths on either side), and this is the other place (beside Buckingham Palace) where one can go to see the changing of the guard. This shot is taken from the Whitehall side of the building, the back side abuts St. James park on the other side from Buckingham Palace.

One of our great pleasures in London is just to wander around the city on foot. There are often hidden surprises in unexpected places. This is a beautiful little garden we stumbled across quite by accident while trying to find a short-cut.

One of the better things we did on this visit was a day-trip to Greenwich which included a boat ride down the Thames River and back. The next several shots were taken on the boat trip along the Thames.

This shot in specific is of Cleopatra's Needle (one of many piece of plunder you can find around the city).

It was still under construction at this point; but one of the more interesting sights to see these days is the re-creation of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. It is today a fully functioning theatre based as close as they could get it to what the original looked and felt like (with a few concessions such as a sprinkler system).

While it is true that most of the lines that you see on maps don't really exist, this is one of the few exceptions. Just to left of center you san see a line that runs up the lawn - that marks 0 degrees longitude - the prime meridian. They re-chalk it once a week.

Another view up the lawn toward the observatory. The observatory was placed here because it was far enough away from central London that pollution was not as much of a problem; but it was on a hill so that flag signals from the observatory (marking exact times) could be seen from the city.